


Babysitting

by rudbeckia



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Human/Monster Romance, Masturbation in Shower, Mugging, Non-Graphic Violence, Orgasm Delay, Other, Shower Sex, Sort Of, Venom Symbiote Takes Care of Eddie Brock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-14 15:53:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16495700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Dr Dan’s original MRI of Eddie and Venom has been leaked, so Eddie has to have a new MRI done to “prove that the old one is a fake”. Eddie asks Anne to look after Venom while he has the MRI. Venom seduces Anne and she consents, although she is initially concerned that it might count as cheating on Dan. In the afterglow, Venom lets slip what they really want.Meanwhile, Eddie realises how much he needs Venom in his life.NOTE: Chapter 2 contains a description of an attempted robbery. It’s not particularly graphic.





	1. Gone Fishing

A cold chill enveloped Anne’s body and she shivered as the first black, shiny tendril caressed the skin of her forearm. “You owe me, Eddie Brock,” she said in an insincere but harsh tone while the seething mass of tendrils snaked up her arm and merged with her own flesh. “I am not your babysitter.”  
_Hello Anne, what is ‘babysitter’?_  
“Never mind,” said Anne, shaking her head and steadying herself with a firm grip of Eddie’s shoulder. “You’re with me for a couple of hours. That’s all.” Her glare pierced Eddie. “Right?”  
“Of course, of course Anne,” Eddie said. “I want him to be safe—“  
_I am always safe_ boomed a voice in Anne’s head.  
“Shush, Vee.”  
“—while I have a new MRI scan done to replace the one your current boyfriend leaked. I’ll be back for him as soon as I’ve proved I’m normal.”  
In Anne’s head, Venom laughed. It was infectious and she stifled a giggle. “Go on,” she said. “We’re going to get sushi.”  
_Sushi?_  
Eddie lingered for a few seconds then turned and walked away. Anne sighed.  
“Yes, Vee. Sushi. Very fresh, raw fish. I know a place where you can choose a live one.”  
_Where is this place? We must go there immediately. Hungry._  
“It’s the sea, Vee, You gotta catch your own.”

Anne drove to a car park close to one of the fishing piers and walked the rest of the way. She chose a spot to remove her tracksuit and stood in her one-piece. “Stay out of sight until we’re in the water,” she warned. “Don’t want to scare the good people of—“  
_We may only scare the bad people and eat their organs._  
“What?” Anne spoke louder than intended. “Did Eddie say you could eat people?”  
_Bad people._  
“And who decides? Vee, you can’t tell if someone is good or bad by looking.”  
_Eddie says you can. Look. That person is staring at you and thinking bad thoughts._  
Anne found her gaze shifted. “Vee, no! He’s just some guy out fishing. Thinking isn’t doing.”  
_Hungry!_  
“Okay!” Anne spoke sharply and Fishing Guy turned to frown at her. She shrugged. “Going for a swim,” she said to him. “Don’t catch me, now!”  
Fishing Guy turned back to his contemplation of the water surface and Anne dropped off the quay. As she fell, she let Venom take control, and it was Venom who hit the water and swam through a shoal of darting, silvery fish with fearsome jaws wide open, surfacing only to swallow the glistening, wriggling creatures whole.

It took an hour, but Venom was sated at last, or at least bored with fishing. They leapt back up onto the pier and retreated, leaving Anne standing beside Fishing Guy. He looked round and pointed at a grey pile. “Saved yer things,” he said. “Case they got took.”  
“Thank you,” said Anne with a smug internal sneer at Venom. She pulled on her track-pants.  
_I don’t like how he looks at you_  
Anne bit her tongue.  
_Only Eddie can look at you like that._  
“Dan. You mean Dan.” Anne pulled on her top and sat to put her pumps on.  
“You okay, babe?” said Fishing Guy, an uncertain frown wrinkling his brow.  
“Peachy!” said Anne. “Thanks for guarding my stuff.”  
_I could rip his face from his skull and drink his brains through his ears._  
“That will not be necessary!” hissed Anne as she marched away. “How can you still be hungry? You ate, like, a-hundred-forty-five fish.”  
_Mmm I like this sushi. Were they bad fish?_  
“What?“ Anne unlocked the car and got in. “I don’t know! Can a fish be bad?”  
_Fish. Humans. Good. Bad. What’s the difference?_  
“Clearly not much if you’re—“ Anne pulled a face and deepened her voice. _“Hun-gry.”_  
_That is not amusing, Anne-mine._

Anne stilled her hand on its way to the ignition. “What did you call me?”  
_Anne._  
“No. Oh no. What did you just say.”  
_Anne... Mine._  
“What the fuck, Vee?”  
Venom manifest from Anne’s shoulder and swivelled to face her. _You are mine. Eddie is mine._  
“Well that’s a little poss—“  
Venom smiled. Anne felt it as much as saw the quirk of Venom’s jaw. _And I am yours._  
Anne frowned and sighed. “Oh. Well. That’s... different, I suppose.” Anne slotted her key into the ignition. “What about Dan?”  
_Who?_  
“Dan. My boyfriend.”  
_I will eat his organs in alphabetical order._  
“Absolutely not.”  
_Very well. I will start by eating his cock. That’s what you think about first._  
“I do not! And no. Still no.”  
_I may not eat Dan? Not even a little bit?_  
“No.”  
_But you do. I have seen it in your head. You take his cock into your—_  
“Shut up, Vee!”  
Venom went quiet for a few seconds while Anne started the car and backed out of the space. But she could feel a smirk and sensed that Venom was bursting to say something.  
“What!”  
_He won’t do it back like Eddie used to. He’s... lesser than Eddie._  
The car screeched to a halt before the car park exit.  
“How dare you! Vee, did Eddie put you up to this?”  
_No. But we have discussed your... intimate life at length while Eddie was asleep._  
“You pried into my ex-fiancé’s mind while he was asleep?”  
_Yes. I got bored._  
“When we get home, Vee, we are going to have a talk about that. Meantime, let me make it clear that you may NOT pry into my thoughts. Okay?” Anne rolled her eyes as she felt Venom’s amusement.  
_Oops. Too late._

Anne drove home without any further comment from Venom. She parked the car, went upstairs into the apartment she more or less shared with Dan and gulped down two large glasses of water, standing at the sink and spilling some down herself in Venom’s haste to get fresh water into their system. She poured another glass and carried it to the bathroom.  
“I need a shower, Vee.”  
_We don’t have to say words out loud. We hear the words as we think them._  
“I said I don’t want you to pry.”  
_Not prying. It’s what we are. It’s how we communicate. You are shy._  
Anne watched her own neck and cheeks go pink in the mirror then she shook her head and saw Venom’s glossy black hide, milky eyes and bright, sharp teeth grinning back at her. Before she could stifle the thought, Venom understood and smiled wider.  
_I do it for Eddie. We could do it too._  
Anne felt her face flame. “Vee—“  
_It’s fair._  
“Vee!”  
_We want it._  
“It’s cheating.”  
_No it’s not. There’s no one else here. Does masturbating count as cheating?_  
“Of course not. This is different. You’re here.”  
_No. When we are joined, we are one. There is no Anne and no Venom. We are something else._  
Anne tutted and looked away. “You’re certainly something else.”

Venom went quiet in Anne’s head. She turned from the mirror and started the shower running, stripped out of her damp clothes, closed her eyes and sighed as she stepped under the warm spray from the aerator. She reached for the shampoo and lathered her hair, rinsing and smoothing it then spread conditioner through to the ends. As her fingers slipped through her tresses, she felt a warm tingle lower down.  
“Vee? Is that you?”  
_It is us. We feel desire._  
Anne bit her lip and focused on the pleasant, tingling warmth around her labia and the feeling of want in her vulva.  
_We want it._  
Anne had to admit to herself, she did want an orgasm and it wasn’t as if letting this happen was the same as having an illicit affair with another man.  
_We are pleasuring ourself. We can do this if we want. It is not wrong or right._  
“I suppose...” Anne wrestled her learned conscience regarding sexual pleasure into submission. “I suppose it is just a thing people do, huh?” She rinsed off her hair again. “Okay.”

Venom felt Anne’s decision before she spoke. As the syllables left her lips, tendrils manifest from Anne’s back and shoulders and wound their sinuous way across her pale skin. One caressed her face and trailed across her lips like a kiss from a gentle lover. One flattened then curved to cup her left breast and rub across her nipple the way she liked when Eddie used to hold her from behind. One slipped down between her legs and rocked smoothly against her, easing between her labia and pulsing against her entrance without penetrating.  
“Fuck, Vee,” Anne said with a sharp intake of breath. “You know what I like!”  
_**We** know what **we** like._  
Anne felt as if Venom was everywhere. Another tendril cupped her right breast and gently circled her nipple as it hardened, and she felt Venom’s delight at her response. Below, the tendril at her entrance forked. One part slipped up and forwards to tease at her clitoris while the other thickened and lengthened, pushing slowly into her hot, wet hole, making Anne feel contentedly full. The tendril pulsed inside her, slipping in and out, sliding over her most sensitive spot at a pace that made Anne gasp. The warm tingle in her groin started to build up, promising a climax, and Anne shifted, pushing her feet into the edges of the shower enclosure and leaning back against the cool tiles. She moaned in pleasure.  
“Nearly. There.”  
_Oh?_  
The pace slowed to something languid and the imminent climax receded. Anne cursed but Venom felt the insincerity of it. The tendril caressing Anne’s face thickened, pressed against Anne’s parted lips and accepted a hungry kiss before slipping inside her mouth and filling it comfortably. The tendril still circling her clitoris, frustrating her by just missing the exact spot that would send her over the edge, sped up and flicked once, making Anne’s internal muscles contract once with the desperately desired stimulation. The tendril in Anne’s vagina resumed its faster pace, slipping in and out, leaving Anne panting through her nose and unable to think of anything other than the pleasure of the present moment. Her imagination, freed from the constraints of what she normally considered right or wrong about sex, conjured up images that almost sent her spiralling into her orgasm, and Venom devoured them all. In response, one more tendril manifest from Anne’s lower back. It pushed down over Anne’s coccyx and massaged her puckered, tight hole until that also tingled with the rest of her perineum.  
_We want this._  
It was’t even a voice in her head any more. Silenced by the tendril warm and pulsing in her mouth, Anne simply understood and replied in kind. _Yes_ , w _e want this._  
The new tendril, narrow and slippery, pushed inside. As it did so, Anne slid to her hands and knees. The tendril in her mouth flattened and absorbed into her skin to let her pant freely and cry out in pleasure as she came, internal muscles clenching rhythmically at the thick, slippery tendril still inside her vagina, clitoris pulsing under the slow rubbing of the flattened tendril that massaged it, and tight ring clasping around the thin tendril in her back entrance.

After a full minute, Anne wobbled to her feet and turned the shower off.  
_It was good._  
She wasn’t sure if the voice was hers or Venom’s, or even if it mattered. She patted her red face with a towel and wrapped it around her hair. “Yes. It was, Vee. So good that I want to sleep now.”  
_Why do you call me that? My name is Venom._  
“Venom is the name of something bad. You’re not bad.”  
_No?_ Anne felt the sensation of a bubble of laughter. _Am I good? Even if I eat people?_  
“You’re not good either but you make Eddie better. He’s taking care of himself now he has you. As for the eating people thing,” Anne shuddered at a few of Venom’s memories that she shared. “We can all work on that. I mean, on not doing that.”  
_We?_ Anne felt something unguarded from Venom. A kind of warmth. _We like that idea._  
“Not eating people?”  
_We. You. Me. Eddie. Three of us together._  
Anne frowned as she walked out of the bathroom and chose fresh underwear. “What about Dan?”  
There seemed to be a deliberate pause before the words appeared in her head.  
_We will start with his stupid face._  
“Oh no. Not this again. You may not eat—”  
_**Hungry!**_


	2. Losers

Eddie screwed up his face and blew out a breath to ward off the stench of stale air when he opened his apartment door. Something crunched underfoot as he stepped over the scattered detritus of his last meal at home, and a lump under the ball of his right foot suggested something had stuck to the sole of his shoe.  
“Aw, shit,” he said under his breath. “This is all your fault.”  
_I did not make this mess._  
“You did! You think I would have dropped frozen tater tots over the floor and left them there? You think I would have—“  
_Yes._  
“—taken a two-day old chicken carcass from the trash and eaten it?”  
_I was here. I saw you do it._  
“Bullshit! You made me!” Eddie sat on his bed and examined the sole of his shoe. He picked at it and a piece of chicken bone dislodged and skittered across the wooden floor. “It was so gross I threw up. You remember that?”  
_You should eat food that isn’t dead. Hungry._  
“Ugh. This is rotting. You’re always hungry. We can get food once I’ve cleaned the apartment. Sooner if you help out.”  
_Symbiotes do not do manual work._  
“Symbiote gonna go hungry, huh?”  
_We will leave this place and live with Anne. Anne’s apartment smells nice._  
“Aw, no.” Eddie shook his head. “Not that simple. Anne doesn’t want me now she’s got Dan and... as much as I hate to admit it he’s kind of a nice guy, you know?”  
_We could rip off his head and devour—_  
“No! No devouring Dan. No ripping off heads.”  
_You’re no fun._

Eddie sensed Venom’s sulk and he swept up the defrosted and moulding tater tots and rancid chicken parts with occasional bursts of outrage at the mess he’d happily ignored for days. As he tipped the final sweepings into the trash with a slight sense of satisfaction at a job minimally done, his phone rang. Eddie felt his heart surge at the caller ID.  
“Anne?”  
“Uh, Eddie?” The voice threw Eddie for a second and disappointment settled on him like a weight.  
“Dan. Oh.”  
There was a pause at Dan’s end. “This is awkward. You need to come in for a new MRI.”  
Eddie sighed. “Dan we can’t do that.”  
“No, just you.” Another pause. “Alone. Do you understand me?”  
“Dan...”  
“Someone at the hospital leaked the MRI with your parasite.”  
_Parasite! We will slurp his entrails like spaghetti._  
“No!”  
“Eddie this will be all over the news! Alien Parasite Takes Over Disgraced Investigative Journalist. Can you picture that? You need a clean MRI, witnessed, to prove you’re normal and the leaked one is a hoax. I got you booked in this afternoon.”  
_We refuse. We will save his eyeballs for last so that he may watch while we devour his succulent flesh._  
“Stop it. I mean, you know I can’t do that. You saw what happened last time. The frequency hurts.”  
“Anne and I discussed it. She can help.” Another pause hinted at Dan’s discomfort. “Look after... it.”  
_Anne will host me again?_  
“Well...”  
_Anne likes me!_  
“I guess...”  
_I am going to enter Anne again._  
“Don’t say it like that!”  
“Eddie?”  
“Sorry, wasn’t talking to you, Dan. Okay. We’ll do it.”  
“Great.” Dan sounded relieved. “Anne’s at the apartment. Go there to... to... you know. Then come meet me at the hospital.”

On his way out, Eddie hesitated by the door then rolled his eyes and went back into his apartment to shower and put on cleaner clothes. The journey to the apartment he still thought of as ‘their place’ was short but Venom’s growing anticipation of spending time with Anne was torment.  
_Anne will let me eat someone. Hungry._  
Eddie struggled to keep his voice to a low murmur that would be lost under the bustling noise of public transport. “No she won’t.”  
_Anne would let me eat that guy because he has a gun and she hates guns._  
Eddie felt his attention drawn to a grey-haired, corpulent, white man busying himself with a newspaper. He shook his head slowly. “She won’t let you eat anyone.”  
_Will._  
“Won’t.”  
_Will._  
“Won’t.”  
_We could make him try to shoot us first. That would be funny. Imagine the look on his ugly face right before we sucked the flesh from his skull._  
“Stop!”  
Eddie only realised he’d yelled when he jerked forward and everyone else on the transit stared at him. “Oh! Uh,” he said as he stood up. “Thanks. My stop.”  
_Hungry!_  
He could walk the rest of the way. It was probably safer.

Anne’s face twitched the way it always did when she was trying not to smile. “You owe me, Eddie Brock.” Eddie clasped her hand and watched as shiny black tendrils made their hands and forearms seem to merge into one writhing mass. “I am not your babysitter.”  
Eddie felt an absence like a cold void in his mind. Anne grasped his shoulder for a few seconds, eyes darting here and there as her guest settled in. Quietly, Anne said, “you’re with me for a couple of hours. That’s all.” Eddie felt her glare turn to him. “Right?”  
“Of course, of course Anne,” Eddie said. “I want him to be safe while I have a new MRI scan done to replace the one your current boyfriend leaked. I’ll be back for him as soon as I’ve proved I’m normal.”  
Anne giggled. “Go on,” she said. “We’re going to get sushi.”

Eddie smiled and turned away once it was clear to him that Anne and Venom were going to be just fine. He took public transport without having to suppress the desire to eat anyone, and Dan was waiting for him at the hospital entrance. “Hi,” he said, nervous smile replacing his usual confident, professional manner. “Glad you could make it. Anne okay?”  
“She’s fine, Dan. They’re fine.” Eddie seethed quietly until they reached the elevators and the door closed with just the two of them inside. Eddie rounded on Dan. “How could you let this happen!”  
Dan took a step back and bumped the wall. He raised both hands to chest height, palms out. “Not my fault, Eddie! I promise. I’m a surgeon. I don’t run security in medical imaging.”  
“Well I... WE want to know who does.” The elevator lurched to a stop. Eddie took a step back and the doors opened. Dan got out and Eddie followed. “Good thing Anne’s babysitting. If he was—“  
“Don’t talk about it here.” Dan spoke quickly and quietly, glaring at Eddie. “I’m angry enough that Anne ignored my concerns and is a willing part of this. Don’t make it worse by risking someone overhearing you taking about ripping heads off. You’ll end up in the psych ward before you can say ‘a danger to himself and others’ and I want you fit and well and back in possession of... that thing.”  
“He’s called Venom.” Eddie cursed quietly. He hated when Dan was right about anything, and Dan being right about Venom was somehow worse.

The MRI went smoothly. Witnessed by Dan, an MRI technician, someone from the hospital board and a rival journalist, Eddie lay as still as he could and suffered through noise and claustrophobia. A few times, when Dan checked on him through the intercom, he had to stop himself from telling Dan exactly how Venom would destroy the machine, or how Venom would just _know_ who leaked the scan and rip their arms off and eat them while they watched. He wondered how Venom and Anne were getting along this time, imagining a constant round of: _Hungry!_ “No.” _We will eat that one._ “No.” It made him feel warm and smile. Once finished, Eddie signed consent for a copy of his new MRI scan to be made public. On his way out he snapped at the representative from the hospital board that they could expect a call from his lawyer, and raised one finger at the rival journalist who smirked and informed the room that Eddie Brock was a loser-has-been who could never afford a lawyer.  
“Oh yeah?” said Eddie, taking a step closer to the journalist.  
“Thank you for coming in, Mr Brock,” said Dan, taking Eddie by the elbow and steering him to the door. “We really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to do this.” Once outside the room, Dan murmured in Eddie’s ear, “Please do not ask Anne to sue the hospital for you. I like working here and I can’t lower my standards like you. I need to have a good job and a nice apartment. Anne appreciates that.”  
“You think Anne would dump you if you got fired?” Eddie frowned.  
“Happened to you, didn’t it?”  
“She...” Eddie bit his lip. He wanted to yell out this new information that Anne clearly hadn’t told Dan the truth about why she broke off their engagement, so maybe there was still something between them. Paralysed by indecision about whether or not to come clean to Dan—or get him fired—Eddie said nothing. Back at the hospital entrance, Dan put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie shrugged him off.  
“My shift is nearly though then I’m going back to Anne’s. If you want to wait, I can drive us.”  
“No thanks,” said Eddie, already two steps away. “I‘ll find my own way to my old place.”

Eddie marched past the first two stops on his route before he felt calm enough to get on public transport without snarling at other passengers. He chose a seat by the window and looked out, unfocused, letting the storefronts and bar entrances slip past his eyes without much notice. Without alternative entertainment, Eddie’s mind returned to the smug journalist and the cheap shot at his status, and then to Dan’s reminder that Anne had dumped him and moved on. Feeling anger build again, he got off a couple of stops early, intending to have a brisk walk up the hill to Anne’s place and arrive in a better mood. But as he strode past an alley between two bars, sudden movement caught his eye. Before he could react, thick arms grappled him into the alley.

“Phone, watch and wallet.” Sour breath puffed on Eddie’s face and made him gag.  
“Aw, man, really?” Eddie wriggled but one man held his arms clamped to his sides in a tight grip from behind while Sour-breath produced a knife. He felt the cold point stretch and nick the skin under his jaw. “You picked the wrong man to rob, dude. I ain’t got nothing. Let me go. Pick on someone with money.”  
Sour-breath pushed him but eased off on the knife while Gripper kicked his ankle to unbalance him. Eddie reflected for a second as his centre of mass dipped that if Venom had been with him, there would have been two fewer muggers in the city and one satisfied symbiote. The knife withdrew a few inches as Sour-breath reached inside Eddie’s jacket. Eddie took his chance before Sour-breath got his hands into his pockets. He sagged forward as far as he dared, guessed where Gripper’s face would be and rammed his head back as hard as he could whilst bringing up his knees. The back of his head connected with something that crunched and Eddie tumbled backwards, yelling and landing heavily on Gripper. Sour-breath yelped, cursed and ran. Gripper struggled out from under Eddie and tried to run after Sour-breath, but Eddie hooked a foot around Gripper’s ankle, sending him sprawling once more. Eddie stood up and looked around, but there was nobody else in the alley. A scraping noise from Gripper made Eddie turn and look: Gripper was getting up and holding a gun in one shaky hand.

Eddie felt his stomach drop. Venom would deal with this. He needed Venom. Venom wasn’t here.

“Eddie!” A voice rang out. Eddie turned. Gripper scrambled to his feet and ran. Dan jogged over. “Are you okay? You look terrible.”  
“What are you doing here?”  
“Driving past. Saw you getting pulled into the alley. Called the cops from the car. Came to see if you needed help.”  
“I’m fine. And I’m not waiting for the cops. Drive me home.”  
“Okay. You want to collect your... it... from Anne first?”  
Eddie glared at Dan. “That’s what I said!”  
Dan’s car was only a short walk away. Dan held the door for Eddie then got into the driver’s seat and pointed to th eglovebox. “There are wipes in there. For your...” Dan mimed wiping under his chin. Eddie cleaned off the trickle of blood while Dan waited for the chance to pull out into traffic. As the car eased into the flow, Dan said, “You like that alien parasite. Don’t you?”  
Eddie frowned at Dan. “I have no idea what you mean.”  
“It. The parasite. Symbiote. You like it.”  
“He’s useful.”  
“He?”  
“Whatever. Drive me back so that I can relieve Anne of her babysitting duty. It would be nice if you didn’t talk.”  
Dan drove without speaking for only a couple of blocks before curiosity got the better of him. “Does it talk to you?”  
“Sure,” said Eddie. “He tells me in which order he wants to eat your organs whenever you call him a parasite. I think he wants your gonads first. I can barely hold him back.”  
Dan gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles went white. “You’re just fucking with me. Aren’t you?” Eddie did not reply. “Is Anne safe with it?”  
Eddie barked out a laugh. “Anne is the safest person on the planet right now. The worst thing that’s gonna happen to her is indigestion if Venom decides to bite off more than she can chew.”  
Dan considered this for a few seconds then grimaced. They drove the rest of the way without exchanging another word.

It was all Eddie could do not to push Dan out of the way and throw himself into Anne’s arms when she came downstairs at the sound of Dan’s key in the lock. Anne shouldered her way past Dan and held out her arm to Eddie. Eddie leapt forward and clasped her hand. The instant their skin touched, a rippling, black, coiling mass manifest between them and merged into Eddie’s arm. Eddie sighed and smiled. Anne smiled back, a little sadly.  
“Dan? Why don’t you go on up and I’ll join you in a minute?” Anne said, not taking her eyes off Eddie.  
_We like Anne. Anne is a good host. We will go fishing now. Hungry._  
Eddie smiled at the voice in his head as Venom’s memories gradually merged with his own. “Fishing, huh? You guys had a good time?”  
Anne nodded, then looked away and went pink. “Sure we did. Vee’s kinda... good company if you can get past the _hungry!_ thing.”  
_We did other things. Good things._  
“You did?” Eddie frowned. “Anne, thanks for not telling Dan what I did. To us. To you.”  
Anne shrugged. “It’s none of his business. My relationship with you has no bearing on my relationship with Dan.”  
“Except that if I hadn’t fucked up we’d be married and Dan would be... not here.”  
_We thought about you..._  
“Yeah, well Eddie, maybe you’re right.” Anne scowled, close to tears without knowing why she felt such a sense of loss. “Maybe I should thank you for that.”  
“What? Anne, don’t be like—“  
_...when we pleasured ourself in the shower._  
“—tha... WHATTHEFUCK!” Eddie went red. “Anne, did you and Venom—“  
_Anne’s foreplay lasted longer than yours and her first orgasm lasted six more seconds._  
“Eddie Brock!” Anne raised a forefinger and poked Eddie in the chest. A black, glistening tendril wrapped around Anne’s hand, absorbing into it. “If you value our friendship at all you will NOT finish that sentence.”  
Eddie stood in silence, struggling to make eye contact. “You... you did. A thing. With Venom.”  
“No,” Anne said firmly. “We, one entity. And it’s none of your business since you were not there.”  
_It was good. We will do it again. All of us._  
“You heard that too, right?” Eddie stared at the wall behind Anne. Anne pulled her hand away from Eddie’s chest and felt a slight, elastic resistance as Venom released her and the tendril reabsorbed into Eddie.  
 _We would have gone for a third one but Dan called and it put us off._  
“I should go,” Anne said, looking Eddie in the eyes again at last, if only for a brief glance.  
“Okay. You take care.”  
“You too.”

Anne went inside and closed the door. Eddie walked downhill. “I can’t believe you did that with my ex.”  
_Are we going fishing? No! I see... bigger, badder fish._  
“What do you mean?”   
Venom called up an image of a man running away and a man sprawled on the ground and a feeling of anger and fear.  _Hungry.  
_ Eddie sighed. “No you’re not. You ate a ton of fish. I can taste them.”  
_They were fresh. Tasty. Hungry. We will hunt._  
“Not now. I’m tired. I wanna go home.”  
_You’re no fun. Anne is fun. Anne would let me hunt them down and rip them open then devour their beating hearts._  
“You wanna go join Anne? Is that it?” Heat flared in Eddie’s chest, his joints felt weak and his stomach churned. “You’d rather spend your time contemplating Dan’s baby-smooth ass and indulging his me-talk than... I dunno... Hanging out with me.” It was the last thing Eddie wanted but words spilled out of him anyway. “Want me to take you back there? Want me to knock on Anne’s door and say, ‘hey, Venom wants to leave me too so there’s something you’ve both got in common’? Shit. I’m such a loser. Nobody cares. Everyone leaves.”  
_You **are** a loser, Eddie._  
“Fuck you.”  
_You’re_ **my** loser. Take me home to your loser apartment, loser.  
Eddie did not reply, but he found he had to try to stay upset. He tried not to smile. “Shut up, parasite.”  
Venom’s voice went quiet in Eddie’s head for the rest of the journey, but contented warmth lifted his mood.

As soon as Eddie closed the door of his apartment behind himself, Venom manifest a face and swivelled to look at him. Eddie blinked at eyes like opals set in polished jet. Venom grinned. Eddie sighed and huffed a little. “Okay. Sorry I got in a mood.”  
_You were jealous._  
“Yeah? What d’you expect?”  
_You were not jealous of Venom for giving Anne pleasure._  
“Wasn’t I?”  
_You were jealous of Anne. You missed me._  
“Don’t be a dick.”  
_I could be._ Venom manifest a phallus. Eddie raised his eyebrows at its size. _I could be anything. For you. For us. Anything we want. We could fuck. Every way we want._  
“Did you kiss Anne with that mouth?”  
_Yes. We liked it. We will kiss this time._  
Eddie shook his head. “Wait! No. What about all those teeth?”  
_No teeth. Only lips. And tongue._ Venom demonstrated, long, thick tongue lolling from their mouth.  
“First time was weird. And kinda gross.”  
_I am an ‘alien parasite’ and you’re a walking, talking, loser meatbag. Of course this is weird and gross for us. We will close our eyes._  
“Won’t Anne mind?”  
Venom laughed. _Anne is happy we are joined. Anne thinks Eddie and Vee make each other better._  
“I guess two losers are better than one.” Eddie frowned. “Vee?”  
_Venom Anne. Venom Eddie. Vee-anne. Vee-eddie._  
“Should I call you Vee too?”  
_You should call us ‘Veddie’._  
“It’s a ridiculous name but okay, if it shuts you up.”  
 _Veddie Veddie Veddie._

Eddie walked to the kitchen sink, turned the tap on, stuck his face under it and drank until he was full. Then he took two beers from the fridge, popped both bottles open, turned on the TV and sat on the sofa. He scrolled through the films and chose one. He watched the images without really taking anything in, sipping beer and lounging with his feet up beside him. He stretched out his legs and nestled his shoulders into the corner of the sofa. Venom echoed his contented sigh. A change in the music and an image of bare flesh caught his attention. He frowned at the screen.  
“This isn’t ‘Alien v Predator’. Did you change the channel?”  
_Yes. We found it offensive._  
Eddie watched the entwined bodies on the screen. “Soft porn? Really?”  
_Do we have anything more educational?_  
“I’m too tired to care.” Eddie closed his eyes and his head bumped the back of the sofa. Gentle pressure enveloped his groin and he groaned. “Vee, I said it was weird.”  
The gentle pressure turned into rolling waves that massaged Eddie’s cock through his sweatpants. _You did not say no._  
The combination of exhaustion, the scene showing a couple taking well-staged joy from a simulated fuck up against a photocopier, and Venom’s lewd suggestions trickling straight to Eddie’s brain proved enough for Eddie to relent. “Fine,” he said, clicking the TV off. “Whatever.”  
_Is that a yes?_  
“Yes! I said yes. Happy?”  
 _We will be. Lie back and think of..._ Venom paused as Eddie let his mind slip into a favourite fantasy. _Yes, we like that._

Eddie shuffled down the sofa and lay flat, eyes closed, with his head on one armrest and his knees bent, feet braced against the other armrest. He felt tendrils trail like fingertips down his chest, making the hairs on his skin stand up as if electrified, and he shivered. As soon as he had the thought that it felt odd to be fully clothed, the hem of his shirt pulled up and bared his midriff while something pushed at the waistband of his sweatpants. He raised his hips and let his sweatpants come to rest mid-thigh. A slight feeling of amusement entered Eddie’s head and he smiled.  
“Are you laughing at me? You better not be laughing at me.”  
_Sex is funny. No talk. Only think._  
“O-oh!” Eddie felt Venom respond to his desire for the feeling of weight on his hips, pushing him down. He thrust up against the mass that had settled on him, surrounding his cock and balls with soft warmth, massaging until he was fully hard. As soon as he knew he wanted it, Eddie felt the mass shift and expand upwards, covering his belly and his chest with the same soft warmth. He touched it with both hands, tentative in case the texture was somehow wrong—sticky or slippery—and catapulted him out of his fantasy. But he felt dry, warm skin that resisted pressure and he wrapped his arms around it. As he rocked his hips faster, chasing the exciting tingle building at the base of his cock, a tendril drifted up over his face and traced his lower lip then flattened and widened. Eddie parted his lips and imagined a soft kiss from familiar, human lips.

With a groan of disappointment, Eddie felt Venom pull back from his embrace.  
_Are you in a hurry?_  
“You’re a fucking tease.”  
_I’ve seen your diary. You’re available all night._  
“I won’t last all night.”  
_Is that a challenge, loser?_  
“Don’t you dare, parasite!”  
Climax denied for the moment, Eddie opened his eyes. A black, shiny form perched on his hips. He smiled.  
“You don’t have to try to look human for me, Vee.”  
_Thank fuck._  
The shape broke up and writhed at the edges for a few seconds then settled into Venom’s preferred manifest form, complete with staring, milk-white eyes and crowded, grinning teeth. Eddie laughed and stroked a finger along the line of Venom’s jaw.  
“Fuck, you’re ugly.”  
_You’re uglier. I’m closing my eyes so that I do not have to watch your come-face._  
“Oh fu-u-uck that’s good.”

That last vocalisation from Eddie was in response to Venom’s actions. One tendril blindfolded Eddie while another two pinned his wrists beside his head, and the mass covering Eddie’s groin pulsed with a slow, rolling movement that soon had Eddie helpless and silently begging for more. More pressure. More friction. More heat. More speed. More Venom. Venom did not relent. The promise of pleasure fizzed and built and coiled in Eddie’s groin. He tried to thrust up and set a faster pace but every time he did, the waves of soft pressure would stop until he settled with a groan and a curse. When he was on the point of trying to pitch Venom off him in a fit of frustration (and finishing the job by hand), another slim tendril snaked back, behind Eddie’s balls and circled his entrance. Eddie responded with a hissed _”ohfuckyesss”_ before Venom interrupted to ask for permission, and the tendril pushed in slowly then filled out, circling around inside until Eddie came hard, panting, with Venom’s image merging with Anne’s in his head.

Hours later, when Eddie woke up hugging a cushion and with his sweatpants still at mid-thigh, he groaned and yawned.  
_Hungry._  
“Of course you are.”  
_Hungry!_  
“Okay! Okay. I’m moving.” Eddie sat up and fixed his clothes, pulling a face at the lack of mess. “You ate something, at least.”  
_**Hungry!**_  
Eddie stood up and stretched. He felt the place under his chin, healed now, where the cold point of a knife had gouged his skin. He smiled and felt Venom’s delight at the half-made decision.  
“Wanna go hunt muggers?”


	3. A Good Host

The scrape and clatter of silverware on porcelain and the low rumble of intimate conversations came from all around. Dan, a little buzzed and flushed from his second glass of zinfandel, was set on describing his day. Anne tried to ignore the face plastered up against the restaurant window, hands cupped around the eyes, peering in. She flicked her gaze to it, frowned, then returned her attention to Dan. Dan was still talking between precise slivers of steak.  
“...said that it was probably inoperable but I...”  
Her fettuccini was going cold. Outside, hands pointed then waved at her and a grin lit up the face.  
“...of course it was a very delicate procedure but— Anne? Am I boring you? Are you even listening?”  
“Of course, darling.” Anne gave Dan her most attentive smile. “You were telling me about a very delicate procedure. Oh, look who’s here.”

“Hey, Dan. Hey, Anne.” Eddie pulled a chair over from a nearby table and sat down between Anne and Dan, prompting a young man in a black waistcoat and bowtie to scurry over and set a place for him. Eddie turned to smile up at the waiter. “We already ate.”  
_Hungry!_  
“We had a snack on the way here.” Eddie turned his nervous smile on Anne. “Fish.”  
_Liar!_  
“That explains why you smell like harbour water,” said Dan. “But not why you’re dry. Is there something we can do for you, Eddie? That business with the MRI is all settled, isn’t it?”  
“Out of court too,” added Anne. “And nobody got fired over it. So I suppose you should both say ‘thanks, Anne, you’re a wonderful lawyer.”  
Eddie smiled. “Thanks, Anne. You _are_ wonderful. Vee thinks so too.”  
_That armed robber was not filling. We should order food._  
Dan glared at Eddie and opened his mouth to speak, but Eddie turned away and waved at the waiter. “Hey, can we get a menu after all? Do you have a lobster tank?”  
“Eddie!” Dan’s voice sliced through the bubbling chatter. Anne looked around with an apologetic smile until the other diners lost interest and went back to their own business. Dan waved his fork. Eddie couldn’t help following the motion with his eyes, watching the pink meat draw circles in the air above Dan’s red-stained plate. “It’s not that it isn’t great to see you looking so well—”  
_He’s a liar. Liars are bad people. We could eat—_  
“No!“ Eddie glared into the empty space opposite him. “Anne—“  
“—BUT what are you doing here?” Dan ignored Eddie’s interjection and continued to speak in the low, calm voice he employed when explaining surgical procedures to people he judged to be in his intellectual shadow. “You are interrupting our date.”  
_We want to rip his condescending face from his skull and ram it up his rectum._  
“Actually,” said Eddie, turning his back on Dan and shifting closer to Anne. He put one finger on Anne’s middle knuckle and felt Venom’s frisson of delight when Anne put her knife down and took Eddie’s hand. A tickle between their clasped fingers made him want to giggle and Anne smiled as Venom’s consciousness flooded her with happy greetings. Eddie squeezed her hand. “I came to say thank you for helping with the case and, since you helped with the settlement figure, I wanted to invite you to a housewarming at our new apartment.”  
_We should have fun together._  
Anne glared and Eddie shook his head. “Not a good time, Vee.”  
_But it’s date night. Is that not what humans talk about on date night? We could pleasure—_  
Anne looked away, face reddening, and let go of Eddie’s fingers. Ah she lifted her hand away, fine, black tendrils dropped back onto Eddie’s hand and vanished. Dan coughed. Eddie moved back to the middle. “So, as I was saying. Housewarming at the new place. Tomorrow at eight.”  
Dan shook his head and made a show of checking his phone. “Oh I am so sorry, Eddie, we’re busy—“  
“Yes,” Anne reached across the table and patted Dan’s phone-hand. “I’m sure whatever you arranged can be rescheduled, Dan. Of course we’ll come.”

Eddie sighed and relinquished his place at the table when the waiter returned and apologised for the lack of live lobster, live crab or oysters still in their shells. He smiled a goodbye to Anne and offered Dan a handshake, which he accepted with hesitation. Eddie stifled a laugh when Venom recoiled. Outside, the night air was cooling but Eddie felt warm.  
_She did not say no._  
“Vee, don’t proposition people who are on dates with other people. It’s rude.”  
_We felt the yawning abyss of her boredom._  
“Yeah? Well. Dan had every right to punch our face.”  
_I wish he would try. Dan has no more say in Anne’s decisions than we do._  
“He might prevent her from joining us.”  
_I hope he forbids Anne from coming over. I would like to watch Anne rip him a new hole._  
“Ha! She would. Metaphorically, that is, before you get ideas.”  
_Hungry._  
“Okay. Let’s get food.”  
_Look vulnerable and flash your new phone around._  
“What? No! Why?”  
_We’re fishing. You’re bait._

Next evening, eight o‘clock was slow to arrive. There were snacks and drinks set out and Eddie put on some music that didn’t grate when Venom gave the heads up that someone was approaching. Eddie answered the door to the first, awkward guests who stood looking around the living room, surreptitiously checking their phones until a few more people arrived. Between false smiles and brief handshakes, Venom gave Eddie a feeling of being unsettled.  
_You do not like most of these people. Why are they in our home?_  
Eddie communicated sub-vocally, keeping his charm working on his guests. “I’m networking. I need to get along with all of these people whether I like them or not. They don’t like me either.”  
_Because you are a loser. Losers do not need to network._  
“I do, if I’m to keep my alien parasite in comfort. You like it here, huh?”  
_It is better than our old apartment. It smelled very bad._  
“Well we have to make nice tonight. I need everyone here to know that Eddie Brock is back.”  
_Anne is here._

“Oh, good one.” Eddie smiled and laughed at the lame joke some network executive just cracked. “Excuse me.” He walked away and as he reached the door, it opened and Anne walked in. Eddie grinned and held out his hands.  
_Anne! AnneAnneAnne-mine._  
“Be good, Vee.” Eddie and Anne shared a brief hug. “Glad you could come. Did Dan go to the other thing he said he had on tonight?”  
_I am more than good. I am a fucking delight._  
“What?” Anne frowned. “No, he’s parking the car. He’ll be here any minute.”  
_Hungry!_  
“No!” Eddie rolled his eyes. Anne laughed.  
“Usual?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Look me in the eyes, Vee.” Anne glared into Eddie’s face. “No eating Dan.”  
_We will suck out his ribs one by one and—_  
“He says okay.” Eddie pushed aside Venom’s outrage at the blatant misrepresentation of his wishes. “Let me get you a drink. I hid the good stuff in my bedroom.”  
_Hahaha nice one. Smooth._  
“Of course you did,” said Anne with a theatrical wink. Eddie’s face warmed up and Venom laughed.  
“That’s not what I meant! This is a grownup party. Nobody is making out on a pile of coats on the bed.”  
_Speak for yourself. Invite Anne into the bedroom. No. Lure Dan into the bedroom and—_  
“Please do not finish that thought, Vee.” To Anne, Eddie said, “Grab a couple of glasses and follow me.”

Anne looked around, waved hi to a couple of people she knew from when she and Eddie were together, then picked up two clean glasses and escaped down the hallway after Eddie. She went through the door left ajar for her and nodded. “I like what you’ve done with the decor.”  
“Thanks,” said Eddie, opening a small cooler and bringing out a bottle of Taittinger.  
“You remembered!” Anne’s face lifted.  
“Of course! I was going to get you a bottle for our sexiversary. But I got you fired before that.”  
_That’s a thing? I have to get you rotten grape juice to celebrate our first fuck?_  
“Every year, Vee,” Eddie said aloud as he popped the cork and carefully poured two glasses.  
“Vee?” said Anne. “It’s not a real thing.” A tendril manifest from Eddie’s shoulder and bulged into Venom’s face. Anne choked on her sip of champagne. “Vee!” she said when she recovered. “What if someone comes in and sees you?”  
Venom showed more teeth than one set of jaws should reasonably contain. _Hungry._  
Eddie and Anne said, in unison, “No.”  
_We will join. Then we can communicate like civilised beings instead of using grunting and squealing noises like your species prefers. Hold hands._  
Anne watched as Venom’s preferred form melted back into Eddie’s shoulder. She sat on the bed and held out her free hand. Eddie raised his eyebrows, but Anne only shrugged at him so Eddie sat beside her and clasped her hand in his, intertwining their fingers out of habit. Anne giggled. After a few seconds, so did Eddie as he caught Venom’s infectious glee. Outside the bedroom and down the hallway, the party continued without anyone noticing that the host was missing.

Venom settled into their two hosts with care, calming their buzzing minds with chemicals produced by their own bodies. A sense of wellbeing soon infused all three beings.  
“Vee, are you getting us high?” asked Eddie.  
_What is ‘high’? I am redistributing only chemicals you already possess._  
Anne giggled softly. “Vee found endorphins.”  
“Yeah? Well, enough already.”  
Anne took a sip of champagne but pulled a face and spat it out, spraying expensive wine across brand new carpet. “Sorry. This tastes bad.”  
_It is dead. Dead things are bad to eat._  
“You don’t mind when I drink beer,” said Eddie.  
_I tolerate it because you are a lightweight._  
“That’s true,” said Anne, sliding her half-full glass onto the bedside table. “Eddie is a cheap date.”  
“And Dan?” said Eddie, before he could stop the thought.  
_We should—_  
Anne and Eddie both said, “No!” then grinned at each other.  
“Dan’ll be here any minute,” said Anne. “You should give him a chance, Vee. He’s a good guy.”  
_Eddie and Anne and Venom should be together._  
“You know I’m with Dan,” Anne said, sighing.  
_Anne is with Venom and Eddie and she is happy._  
“He’s right,” said Eddie. “I can feel it.”  
“Why d’you call Vee ‘he’?” Anne asked.  
“Deep voice and tendency to violence. Vee hasn’t corrected me on it.”  
_Venom is not male or female. The way you humans reproduce is ridiculous. It is a wonder your species has not fucked itself into extinction._  
“But you like it, huh?” said Eddie. “The way we fuck?”  
Anne remained silent.  
_It is... pleasant. It makes us feel a closer bond._  
“You want to feel a closer bond with Eddie?” said Anne.  
_And with Anne. You are good hosts. I want us to bond._  
“In other words,” said Anne, “you want us to have sex.”

Dan trotted up the stairs and along the corridor to Eddie’s new place. The door was open so he knocked once and let himself in, raising his eyebrows at the number of guests crammed into the living room and kitchen. With many excuse-mes and oops-sorrys he searched the public areas for Anne’s sleek blonde bob and, reluctantly, Eddie’s slouching frame. Neither were to be seen. After his second pass through the living room, he caught sight of someone he vaguely recognised as an acquaintance of Anne’s.  
“Hi,” He offered a handshake. “I’m Doctor Dan Lewis. Anne’s partner. Have you seen Anne? I am meeting her here.”  
The acquaintance pointed along the hallway, past the kitchen. Dan nodded his thanks and squeezed past a knot of people discussing the recent downturn in violent crime in the city. He checked the first door and found an empty room. The second was a bathroom. The third door revealed Anne and Eddie sitting side by side in silence, holding hands with their eyes closed. Dan slipped into the room and shut the door behind him.  
“So here you are.” Dan folded his arms. “Took longer to find a parking space than I anticipated. Eddie, you should be out there. Your guests miss you.”  
_That’s a lie._  
“Vee, he’s my boyfriend.” Anne frowned. “Be nice.”  
_Tell him._  
“Tell him what, Vee?”  
_Tell him you belong to Venom and Venom belongs to you. Tell him Anne and Venom and Eddie are one. Say it out loud._

As far as Dan could see, neither Anne nor Eddie had reacted to his presence. He scowled, his eyes resting first on Anne then on Eddie. As far as he could tell they might have been asleep, facial expressions betraying their dreams. Anne looked worried while Eddie looked amused.  
“Anne? Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine,” said Anne sub-vocally, then repeated aloud. “I’m fine, Dan, we’re just having a discussion here.”  
“Shouldn’t I be part of it?” Dan took a step closer. “We’re together, Anne. You’re part of my life—“  
_Can I devour his brain yet?_  
“—and I have a right to know—“  
“Be my guest, Vee, not stoppin’ ya. Anne, did I ever speak to you like this?”  
“No, Eddie, you snooped around my email and got me fired. You get no say in this.”  
“—what your relationship is with Eddie right now.”  
_He blanked me! He will find it difficult to deny my existence when my abundant fangs are rending his weak flesh from his puny bones._  
“No!” Anne opened her eyes to glare at Dan. “Go join the party, sweetheart. I’ll be there soon. The three of us are having a conversation here.”  
“Are we?” said Dan in an exasperated tone. “You, me and Eddie? What’s going on, Anne?”  
“I meant I was having a conversation with Eddie and Vee— Venom before you came in.”  
“I see,” said Dan, pursing his lips. “In that case I’ll leave you to it. Call me when you get home if you want to discuss our relationship. If you go home, that is.”

Dan left the room, his attempt to bang the door thwarted by the luxurious carpet.  
“I should go after him,” Anne said with a hint of a sigh.  
“Hell, no you should not!” said Eddie. “You give in to his jealousy now he’ll think it’s okay to tell you what you can do, when you can do it and who you can see.”  
Venom’s voice floated through Anne’s indecision. _You have us and we have you. We have no... things we hide from one another._  
“Secrets, Vee,” said Eddie. “No secrets.”  
_To join like this means no secrets. You are good hosts because you think like alien parasites and accept all of us for what we are. Dan is not like us._  
“I am going to let go, and go talk to Dan.” Anne dropped Eddie’s hand, and Venom released her. Pushing her hand through her hair then patting her face carefully, Anne offered Eddie and Venom a calm smile then left the room. She came back a few minutes later, closed the door and held out both hands to Eddie.  
“Dan gave me an ultimatum,” she said. “I hate ultimatums. He’s gone home to consider his priorities.”  
Eddie tried to keep the hope from his tone as he stood up and grasped Anne’s hands, but Anne heard it through Venom anyway. “You broke up with Dan?”  
“No. I left that up to him. I told him we’d talk when he’s prepared to accept that Venom is part of my life now.”  
_Anne likes Venom more than Anne likes Dan._  
“Shut up. Anne hardly knows you.”  
_Anne likes Venom._  
“Hey,” said Eddie. “You’re a parasite. Big tapeworm. No one likes tapeworms.”  
_I devoured your tapeworms._  
“Nice. Nice image, Vee.”  
In response, Venom projected a memory from earlier in the day, as Eddie was waking up. _Is this a better image?_  
Anne laughed. “Oh Eddie, you always did like a morning quickie.”

Dan turned the car ignition on, gripped the steering wheel, sat for a few minutes then shook his head and cursed. He silenced the engine and got back out of the car, closing the door quietly, before walking back to Eddie’s apartment building and up the stairs, rehearsing variations of the same speech in his mind. He wove past the guests in the hallway, took a deep breath and slipped into Eddie’s bedroom.  
“Anne, I thought about it and I want—“  
The rest of his carefully prepared sentence dried in his mouth. He froze, mouth hanging open at the sight of Anne, nude apart from a single sock, straddling Eddie’s hips. Eddie’s jeans and shorts sagged around his knees. Anne leaned forwards and raised her hips then sank down lower as she and Eddie let out matching sighs of pleasure. Dan took a sharp breath in with surprise: between them, where Dan expected to see Eddie’s cock disappear into Anne’s slick entrance, there was only a mass of shiny, writhing tendrils. Anne rocked her hips slowly while Eddie cupped her breasts. Wherever Eddie touched, Anne’s skin broke out in the same black, glossy skin as covered the mass that kept them separated lower down. Venom’s face manifest from behind Anne’s shoulder and grinned at Dan for an instant.

_Mine._

Oblivious to the interruption, Anne leaned over and kissed Eddie. Where their lips should have met, skin kissed skin like oil reflecting lipless, feral grins. Dan couldn’t tell which of them was Venom, which was Anne and which was Eddie. To Dan, it seemed like there were two ferocious white-fanged beasts instead of two humans. Eddie’s thrusts got faster and harder, and Anne matched his pace, panting and moaning. As Eddie and Anne both let the symbiote take over, wide jaws open and heads thrown back for the final few seconds of bliss, Dan slipped out of the room.

Some time later, Anne woke and the apartment was silent apart from Eddie’s soft snores. She smiled and slowly manoeuvred out of Eddie’s sleepy embrace.  
_You missed this, love._  
Anne did not have to reply consciously. She dressed then leaned over and kissed Eddie’s cheek, pink lips to pale skin. As she reached the apartment door with her thumb over the cab company’s app, she said, “You with me tonight, Vee?”  
_In a manner of speaking, my darling Anne._  
“Oh.” The warmth Anne felt at the thought of Venom staying with her for a while was tempered with guilt. “Won’t Eddie miss you?”  
_He has no reason to miss me._  
“Well, okay, if you’re sure.”  
_We want to walk home. Hungry._  
“Want to go fishing?”

Eddie woke and Anne was gone. He sighed and rubbed his face.  
“Did a bad thing, Vee.”  
_Did a good thing, my love. Wonderful._  
“Well, sure, it was wonderful. But we should not have had sex.”  
_Not even wonderful sex?_  
Eddie laughed but shook his head slowly. “Complicated. So complicated.”  
_Hungry. Eat now, think later._  
“Okay. Tater tots?”  
_Fish._  
“Fine. Only the freshest for you, love.”

Anne stood on the edge of the pier and looked into the inky water below, lit with ripples of reflected moonlight. She closed her eyes and jumped, letting Venom take control before she hit the surface. When they were too full to bother chasing the shimmering shoals, they leapt back onto the pier and Anne emerged, shaking water from her limbs and wringing out her hair. She crouched to pick up the pile of belongings she had left on the pier.  
“Home now? Shower?” She tapped her phone. “Cab?”  
_We want to run._  
“I’m not—“ Anne felt a surge of power in her legs. She bounced on her toes then bounded along the pier, laughing, but pulled up short when a figure stepped out of the shadows of the buildings that crowded the quay.  
“Anne!”  
“Eddie?”  
“What are you doing here? You should be safe at home or at my place.”  
“I’m a big girl, Eddie.” Anne scowled at her assummption that Eddie thought she couldn’t take care of herself. “Vee is with me. I’m safe.”  
“No, Vee is with me. Let’s get you home.”

In Anne’s head, soft words pleaded with her.   
_My love, Eddie doesn’t know yet._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be an epilogue.


	4. Epilogue

“Eddie,” said Anne aloud, frowning. “I think Venom has something to tell you.”  
Eddie’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes opened wide as he understood in the instant before Venom’s words filtered through his brain.  
_Venom loves Eddie. Venom loves Anne. Venom does not have to choose which host they love more._  
“You...” Eddie shook his head. He clenched and unclenched his hands a few times. “You... had a baby? With us?”  
Venom manifest a head from Eddie’s shoulder and regarded him with a cool gaze. _”Not a baby. When Anne left your bed, part of me remained with you and part went with her.”_  
“So there are two Venoms?”  
“No,” Anne cocked her head as if listening, then smiled. “There was one Venom, now there are two separate symbiotes who have Venom’s memories up to the point where they divided.”  
“And you’re okay with this?” asked Eddie, voice rising just a little.  
Another head, the colour and gloss of freshly poured bitumen, crowded with bright, white needle sharp teeth, manifest from Anne’s chest. Anne laughed and dipped her head to press a kiss to the shiny skin. “Usually I say, ‘hey, my face is up here,’ when I’m having a serious talk with Eddie late at night.” She smiled, “Yes, Eddie. I am very okay with this.”  
“Well...” Eddie chewed at his lower lip for a few seconds. “I suppose if you’re happy and Vee’s happy and... the other Vee’s happy then I’m happy about it too. I wish you’d told us you wanted this, Vee.”  
Both symbiotes were quiet. Eddie and Anne felt equally a little wave of regret.  
“But it’s a good thing, right?” Anne raised one eyebrow at Eddie.  
“Uh? Yes! Yes, guess so.”  
Both humans felt their symbiotes relax at Eddie’s assurance. As the manifestations melted back into their hosts, the face returning into Eddie’s shoulder said, _“It is a good thing. We need to grow. Hungry. Can we fish now?”_

Anne watched Venom—Eddie’s Venom—take the pier at a run and leap into the water, then she ran home and went straight into the shower, dropping her clothes in a pile in the shower tray and trampling them as the hot water soaked through her hair. When she was happy that the smell of harbour water was gone, she stepped out and wrapped herself in her robe. She opened the cabinet to get her moisturiser and paused with a stab of guilt when she saw the empty upper shelf.  
_We are sorry Dan is gone._  
“Yeah.”  
_You liked him._  
“Yeah.” Anne closed the cabinet and flipped the cap of her night cream.  
_He is not a good match like we are._  
“Suppose not.”  
_He would die._  
“Yeah.” Anne massaged the skin of her neck, cheeks and jaw.  
_Perhaps we could make him understand._  
“No.” Anne sighed and clicked the tube closed. “How do you say to your boyfriend, ‘I know it looked like I was fucking my ex behind your back but actually we were both being pleasured by an alien symbiote who was in the process of reproducing, also behind your back’?”  
_That sounds perfect._  
It started as a giggle that bubbled up from somewhere deep inside, but soon Anne was shaking and hiccupping with uncontrollable laughter until her diaphragm ached at the thought of trying to talk rationally to Dan what had happened. She took a few deep, slow breaths to recover control.  
“Oh Vee, my love, I don’t think that’ll work. He’s not coming back.” Tendrils manifest from Anne’s back and wrapped her in an embrace. She smiled and closed her eyes. “I suppose I should apologise if I ever see him again, but I’m not sorry that I have you.”  
Comforted by the hug, Anne shuffled to bed.

In the morning, Anne woke late and made coffee before checking her phone. There were two messages. She frowned as she opened one then the other: the text of each was identical.  
**We have a lot to discuss. Can we meet?**  
“Well,” she said sub-vocally. “You didn’t have to, but it looks like I have to choose between the humans I love.” She thumbed a reply: **One thirty at the seafood place.**  
After a bare second’s hesitation, she sent it to both numbers.


End file.
